Space Shuttle Discovery's Last Crew Arrives at Launch Site

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The six astronauts who will fly on space
shuttle Discovery during its historic final flight have arrived
at their Florida launch site for the planned Monday launch, after
a slight delay due to an aircraft glitch.

Discovery commander Steve Lindsey and four of his crewmates began
landing their NASA T-38 jets here at the Kennedy Space Center at
about 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT). A plane swap for the sixth
crewmember, mission specialist Alvin Drew, delayed his arrival by
an hour.

"Its great to be down here what an exciting week," Lindsey told
reporters who had gathered for the crew's arrival. "Hopefully,
weather permitting, all goes well and we'll have a nice
Nov. 1 on-time launch. We're looking forward to it."

On its 11-day mission, Discovery will haul critical spare parts
to the space station, including a storage room and a
humanoid robot to assist the crew of the orbiting laboratory.
It will be the 39th and last space voyage for Discovery before
NASA retires is shuttle fleet next year.

Lindsey, pilot Eric Boe, and mission specialists Michael Barratt,
Nicole Stott and Tim Kopra flew in on three of NASA's supersonic
T-38 training jets from their the Johnson Space Center in
Houston.

Drew's arrival was delayed about an hour, after issues with his
T-38 aircraft forced him to return to Houston to switch planes.
He touched down at the Florida spaceport at approximately 4 p.m.
EDT (2000 GMT).

Lindsey also expressed gratitude to the teams at Kennedy Space
Center who, just last weekend, completed a speedy repair on two
leaky seals that were found on Discovery's fuel line.

"They did a fantastic job getting the vehicle ready for us,"
Lindsey said.

The STS-133 crew is scheduled to launch Monday at 4:40 p.m. EDT
(2040 GMT) to the International Space Station.

The six veteran spaceflyers who will navigate Discovery on its
final journey landed their T-38 training vehicles on the same
three-mile-long runway where Discovery's wheels will roll to a
stop for the last time at the conclusion of its coming mission.
[ Gallery:
Shuttle Discovery's Last Launch Pad Trip ]

Launch day looms

In the remaining days before launch, the astronauts will remain
in medical quarantine a standard precaution to prevent illness
before the mission. They will also spend the next several days
reviewing mission details and completing last-minute training
exercises.

Discovery's final flight will be NASA's 133rd shuttle
mission, before the space agency brings its 30-year space shuttle
program to a close in 2011.

NASA is retiring the three remaining shuttles in its fleet
Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour to make way for a new plan
aimed at sending astronauts to visit an asteroid and Mars.
Discovery is the oldest of NASA's space shuttles.

President Obama recently signed a major NASA act that turns his
vision for U.S. space exploration into law. The
NASA authorization act scraps the space agency's previous
moon-oriented goal and paves the way for a manned mission to an
asteroid by 2025. A manned mission to Mars is envisioned for some
time in the 2030s.

The bill also calls for a budget of $19 billion for NASA in 2011,
adding one extra space shuttle flight before the fleet retires
for good, and the extension of the International Space Station
through at least 2020.